| The Rules describe the provisions
regarding registration of pesticides, conditions to be fulfilled
after registration of pesticides for manufacture and formulation,
import of pesticides, licence for manufacture/formulation, stock,
repacking, sale of pesticides, advisory committee and laboratory
facility, packaging and labeling, analysis and inspection of
pesticides, transport of pesticides by rail, road and water,
facilities during manufacture, safety precautions etc..
In addition to all, the worth mentioning provisions of the Rules
is Section 56 under the title Disposal of used packages, condemned
and surplus materials etc. which reads in its subsection (1): “It
shall be the duty of manufacturers, formulators, repackers of
pesticides and operators to dispose of packages, condemned or
surplus materials and washing in a safe manner so as to prevent air,
soil, water or other environmental pollution”. Subsection (2) states
that “the used packages shall not be left outside to prevent their
reuse” and subsection (3) says that “the packages shall be broken,
burnt, incinerated and buried away from habitation and water ways”.
The Pesticide Ordinance, 1971
The Pesticide Ordinance, 1971 provides the legal framework to
regulate the import, manufacture, formulation, sale, distribution
and use of pesticides in Bangladesh. According to the Chapter I,
Section 3, subsection (n) of the Ordinance, “pesticides means any
substance or mixture of substances used or represented as a means
for preventing, destroying, repelling, mitigating or controlling,
directly or indirectly, any insect, fungus, bacterial organism,
nematodes, virus, weed, rodent or other plant or animal pest; but
does not include a substance, which is a drug within the meaning of
the Drugs Act, 1940”. As per Section 4, “no person shall import,
manufacture, formulate, repack, sell, offer for sale, hold in stock
for sale, or in any manner advertise any brand of pesticide, which
has not been registered….” As per Section 8A(1), “Any person may,
after obtaining a licence granted by the licensing authority,
import, manufacture, formulate, repack, sell, offer for sale, hold
in stock for sale, involve in pest control operation on commercial
basis or advertise in any manner any brand of registered pesticide”.
These provisions make registration and licence mandatory for
dealing with any pesticide. Moreover, the pesticides must satisfy a
big list of criteria for being eligible to be registered. The most
relevant criterion worth mentioning here is “it is not generally
detrimental or injurious to vegetation, except weeds, or to human or
animal health even when applied according to directions”. One of the
important provision of the Ordinance that empowers the Registration
Authority to cancel the registration or deregistration is Section 7,
which states “ if at anytime after registration of the brand of a
pesticide, the Government is of opinion that the registration has
been secured in violation of any of the provisions of this Ordinance
or the rules or that the pesticide is ineffective against pests or
hazardous to vegetation, other than weeds, or to human or animal
life, the Government may after giving to the person on whose
application it had been registered an opportunity of being heard,
cancel the registration”. Exercising this authority the Government
has already cancelled the registration of many hazardous pesticides.
Further the Section 21 to 28 of the Pesticide Ordinance provides the
provisions of “offences.
Further the Section 21 to 28 of the Pesticide Ordinance provides
the provisions of “offences and penalty”, “power of court”,
“Cognizance of offences”, “Power to try offences summarily” and
“Indemnity”. These provisions provide tools for prosecuting legal
actions against any person dealing with pesticides not registered or
pesticides have been deregistered. |
